Saturday Shoutout / Fly Fish Food, Don’t Muck Up My Trout Water

This week’s Saturday Shoutout, Fly Fish Food sheds light on five rules they live by at the fly tying vise and our GA Trout Unlimited Council calls for everyone to VOTE NO against Senate Bill 299, which has the potential if passed, to have longterm negative effects on all of our watersheds in the state of Georgia.

Fly Fish Food

Clark (Cheech) Pierce, contributor for Fly Fish Food, talks about five golden rules he lives by for tying flies. Cheech actually pokes fun at rules, bluntly pointing out for their readers, “there are no rules” in fly tying. Cheech insists that fly tiers should understand and never forget that they have the freedom to tie flies anyway they see fit, and that alone is one of the biggest rewards that fly tying provides hobbyists. It’s a good point actually, and although we learn most about fly tying from taking the time to study others, our own fly tying creativity and innovation is usually sparked by thinking outside the box and not being afraid to try new ways of tying popular pattern recipes. That being said, there are situations in fly tying where the action of a fly in the water can only be produced if the fly tier follows a strict list of tying procedures. Check out this informative fly tying article by clicking the link below. I thoroughly enjoyed it and immediately knew I wanted to share it with all of you.

Kill Senate Bill 299

It has just been brought to my attention by Kevin McGrath, the Advocacy Chairman of the Georgia Council of Trout Unlimited, that all of our GA watersheds are in danger if Senate Bill 299 is passed. In a nutshell, the bill will change water quality management laws for the worse, and the health and water quality of many of our streams and rivers would be extremely damaged. This is something that our Georgia watersheds aren’t in a position currently to move backwards on. If you don’t have time to call the elected officials, take a couple seconds to at least share this GA Trout Unlimited blog post that explains what’s at stake.

Good news! Sen. Steve Gooch has agreed to offer a floor amendment that addresses the issues raised by anglers on the substitute bill passed out of Senate Natural Resources on Tuesday afternoon: 1) Change ‘may’ to ‘shall’ with regard to buffer areas along streams and reservoirs, land development densities, and land use activities; 2) Stipulation that the watershed protection plan be approved by the department. The bill is currently awaiting scheduling in Senate Rules.